Local author Marnie Fossitt recounts adventures of rural life

WINCHESTER — Marnie Fossitt remembers her grandmother’s terrible fear of thunderstorms, she remembers being wrapped in quilts with her three sisters when one would hit, and just listening.

“She’d tell us stories about her life — she was a real character,’’ Fossitt said of her grandmother, just before the first-time author’s book launch and reading on Saturday afternoon in Winchester.

Many stories about her grandmother are lovingly told by Fossitt, in Is Zat You Myrtle? The Life and Times of Annie McKee.

The launch was in celebration of International Women’s Day and held at the Winchester United Church.

The story of the former Dundas County resident recounts Annie’s journey as an orphan, a nanny, a worker at the Cotton Mill in Cornwall, a farmer’s wife, a mother, and all of the adventures that rural life offered her and her family.

Fossitt titled the first half of her book “Annie,’’ and it recounts Annie Boisclaire’s upbringing, many of her childhood years being raised by nuns in a convent in the Moose Creek area.

“She got into quite a bit of mischief,’’ Fossitt said with a smile.

The second half is titled what the granddaughters called her, “Nanny,’’ and it tells of the many adventures they had with someone Fossitt considered to be a fascinating woman.

Is Zat You Myrtle? That’s an old song that Fossitt said Annie played repeatedly on the gramophone.

Fossitt added that so much female local talent from Winchester and area went into the making of the book, that it was a perfect fit to tie the launch to International Women’s Day celebrations.

“I’m nervously excited,’’ is how Fossitt said she felt about the release, the event presented by the North Dundas Arts Council, and it including entertainment featuring Anne Lyon and Ann Brady, old-fashioned refreshments, door prizes and some live excerpts from the novel about the life of McKee.

International Women’s Day is a worldwide event that celebrates the achievement of women. This year’s celebration comes during an unprecedented movement for women’s rights, and with global campaigns in the form of #MeToo and #TimesUp, bringing sexual harassment and equal pay to the forefront of the agenda.

The day has been observed since 1908 and falls on March 8 each year. The beginnings of the tradition can be traced to when 15,000 women marched through New York City demanding voting rights, better pay and shorter working hours.

This Week's Flyers

Comments

We encourage all readers to share their views on our articles and blog posts. We are committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion, so we ask you to avoid personal attacks, and please keep your comments relevant and respectful. If you encounter a comment that is abusive, click the "X" in the upper right corner of the comment box to report spam or abuse. We are using Facebook commenting. Visit our FAQ page for more information.